Another Perspective…

There is a scene in Haider where the inconsolable protagonist tells his mother (translated ofcourse) “Why do you only see the world from behind your eyes, you should once try and see it from another’s perspective…”

Blinded Perspective almost always leads to Confirmation Bias. Confirmation Bias (as noted by Wikipedia) is the tendency to search for, interpret, or prioritize information in a way that confirms one’s beliefs or hypotheses. (Its Wiki page is a wonderful read btw)

Once in the clutches of Confirmation bias, an individual usually throws reason out of the window and sticks to making the same arguments (which affirm their beliefs) over and over. A good example… Take any major political argument and most people making the argument are deeply affected by confirmation bias.

With art this sort of bias tends to blind the audience from the expression of the artist and usually sticks a label of political agenda on the art work. If you search an artwork for specific meaning and ideas, chances are you will find it somewhere.

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There were two things that stood out the most for me while I watched Haider:
a) This is the sort of movie that people watching bollywood kept saying they never get. Here it is, a brilliant and slightly flawed vision. Take it…
b) The censor board cleared it… The movie wasn’t banned… That, ladies and gentlemen is a triumph of democracy. An artist was allowed to represent his vision and thoughts on celluloid and the audience was left to decide its merits.